How to write an interview
Here is our first help guide on writing an interview of your own. Hope you find it helpful!
The most important thing to think about when writing anythingis PALS:
Purpose: With interviews, you have to think is the purpose of your interview to find out about a topic, or to find out about a person, or for that person to plug their new movie or whatever.
Audience: Are you writing this interview for women or men? or both? For children? For film lovers or book lovers? For fans of the person you're interviewing? The audience will affect how you say things, for example, if you're interview was for a child, one of your questions wouldn't be "what are your current views on the economic crisis?" because a child a) wouldn't understand and b) probably wouldn't care
Language : This is linked to the audience. If you're interview is going to be in a medical journal you can use words such as "coronary heart bypass" or trichtomallisis and the doctors will know what you're on about, whereas for a teens article you might say "he was so ugly it made me want to puke". Make the language fit who you're writing for BUT that doesn't mean give up on grammar. For example, if you were writing it for chavs, you WOULDN'T say "and dats like what u shuld do ennit"
Structure: There are two ways to present interviews. The first is called question and answer and is quite self-explanatory: You write the question, then the answer below it. This is most popular with articles for young people, music and film magazines. The second is called integrated approach: this is where you re-write the interview almost as if you are telling the story of when you gave the interview. This means you would set the scene and convey atmosphere "I wait in the swish Ritz hotel in London, where she arrives ten minutes late, with her pet poodle under one arm and a huge box of cigarettes under the other." In this form you use parts of the answers here and there to send some kind of message, for example, in the original interview you're question may have been "have you ever thought of going on a celebrity gameshow, if so, which one?" and the answer was "Definitely who wants to be a millionaire. I really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart." In your typed up interview, you might change this to: She tells me thats he really wants to do her bit for the world, "i really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart". I thanked God she commented on her brains, or lack thereof, so i wouldn't have to!"
The next most important thing with interviews is WHO you are interviewing. It's usually a bad ida to interview friends and family, because it makes the interview more interesting if the interviewer doesn't know the interviewee very well either. This way you will come up with much more interesting questions because it is much easier to come up with questions for things you don't know than things you do know!
Now we've got the core bits out of the way, here is the step by step of creating you're interview:
Step 1: The interview
Make sure you interview your person face to face. You should tape or record the interview (i use the recorder on my phone) to make sure you catch everything thats said and then have a notepad to note down any body language, facial expressions or movements that the person makes that you want to include in your interview. This is extra effective if your purpose is to say something about their personality because, as they say, 90% of what you say doesn't come out of your mouth.
Make sure you have planned some questions, and make sure they are open based questions because you're interview will be pretty rubbish if all the answers are "yes" and "no". During the interview you could come up with more questions you want to ask which is good, as long as you have a few prepared. Make sure the questions have some sort of purpose to help your interview. For example, if you are talking to a tennis player and trying to find out more about how to become a professional tennis player, you wouldn't ask: "which is better: ready salted crisps or salt and vinegar?" With the questions you ask, start with some nice small warm up questions: "when did you get into tennis", "what do you love about tennis" and then move on to the more detailed ones: "what has been the proudest moment of your career so far."
Step 2: Writing up the interview
First listen back to interview and make notes on what is said. Then try to put the questions into a logical order to make sure that the interview flows, it helps to put them under loose headings, or by purpose, or by how the answers compliment each other. There are many ways to do it, and it varies depending on your interview. The next part has already been explained: choose your structure. Are you going to do a question and answer or an integrated approach? Once you've picked one, start writing and remember to keep in mind PALS!
Tommorow I will be posting her interview, so see if you can spot my audience, purpose and which stucture I used!
Robyn xxx
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!
The most important thing to think about when writing anythingis PALS:
Purpose: With interviews, you have to think is the purpose of your interview to find out about a topic, or to find out about a person, or for that person to plug their new movie or whatever.
Audience: Are you writing this interview for women or men? or both? For children? For film lovers or book lovers? For fans of the person you're interviewing? The audience will affect how you say things, for example, if you're interview was for a child, one of your questions wouldn't be "what are your current views on the economic crisis?" because a child a) wouldn't understand and b) probably wouldn't care
Language : This is linked to the audience. If you're interview is going to be in a medical journal you can use words such as "coronary heart bypass" or trichtomallisis and the doctors will know what you're on about, whereas for a teens article you might say "he was so ugly it made me want to puke". Make the language fit who you're writing for BUT that doesn't mean give up on grammar. For example, if you were writing it for chavs, you WOULDN'T say "and dats like what u shuld do ennit"
Structure: There are two ways to present interviews. The first is called question and answer and is quite self-explanatory: You write the question, then the answer below it. This is most popular with articles for young people, music and film magazines. The second is called integrated approach: this is where you re-write the interview almost as if you are telling the story of when you gave the interview. This means you would set the scene and convey atmosphere "I wait in the swish Ritz hotel in London, where she arrives ten minutes late, with her pet poodle under one arm and a huge box of cigarettes under the other." In this form you use parts of the answers here and there to send some kind of message, for example, in the original interview you're question may have been "have you ever thought of going on a celebrity gameshow, if so, which one?" and the answer was "Definitely who wants to be a millionaire. I really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart." In your typed up interview, you might change this to: She tells me thats he really wants to do her bit for the world, "i really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart". I thanked God she commented on her brains, or lack thereof, so i wouldn't have to!"
The next most important thing with interviews is WHO you are interviewing. It's usually a bad ida to interview friends and family, because it makes the interview more interesting if the interviewer doesn't know the interviewee very well either. This way you will come up with much more interesting questions because it is much easier to come up with questions for things you don't know than things you do know!
Now we've got the core bits out of the way, here is the step by step of creating you're interview:
Step 1: The interview
Make sure you interview your person face to face. You should tape or record the interview (i use the recorder on my phone) to make sure you catch everything thats said and then have a notepad to note down any body language, facial expressions or movements that the person makes that you want to include in your interview. This is extra effective if your purpose is to say something about their personality because, as they say, 90% of what you say doesn't come out of your mouth.
Make sure you have planned some questions, and make sure they are open based questions because you're interview will be pretty rubbish if all the answers are "yes" and "no". During the interview you could come up with more questions you want to ask which is good, as long as you have a few prepared. Make sure the questions have some sort of purpose to help your interview. For example, if you are talking to a tennis player and trying to find out more about how to become a professional tennis player, you wouldn't ask: "which is better: ready salted crisps or salt and vinegar?" With the questions you ask, start with some nice small warm up questions: "when did you get into tennis", "what do you love about tennis" and then move on to the more detailed ones: "what has been the proudest moment of your career so far."
Step 2: Writing up the interview
First listen back to interview and make notes on what is said. Then try to put the questions into a logical order to make sure that the interview flows, it helps to put them under loose headings, or by purpose, or by how the answers compliment each other. There are many ways to do it, and it varies depending on your interview. The next part has already been explained: choose your structure. Are you going to do a question and answer or an integrated approach? Once you've picked one, start writing and remember to keep in mind PALS!
Tommorow I will be posting her interview, so see if you can spot my audience, purpose and which stucture I used!
Robyn xxx
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!
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